Debate is not all beer and skittles

It might be an end of an era for iconic Australian company
Foster’s
Group, even if fewer Australians now drink its beer (The Prince has always been more partial to the beer Belgian Trappist monks make rather than VB). But every cloud has a silver lining.

Given Foster’s will probably get taken out by global characters SABMiller there’s a decent chance the likes of Foster’s chief executive John Pollaers and chief financial officer
Stephen Matthews
are going to be looking for another job when their termination pay eventually runs out.

So, it’s always good to check the job advertisements because on Friday the Brewers Association of Australia & New Zealand advertised for a chief executive. Great job for Pollaers, but maybe a conflict because he’s already a principal of the association so will probably have something to do with the appointment, unless not being a boss of a brewer rules him out. In that case, come on down, John! Or put in a good word for Matthews at least.

Or maybe
Michael Ullmer
, who is on the Foster’s board and stepped down as
National Australia Bank
deputy CEO a few weeks ago. Otherwise, the Prince enjoyed the outcry about how selling Foster’s to a foreign company was a bad thing.

“Not in the national interest!" cried the politicians. Except that if one checks the federal Parliament pecuniary items list one will find that a grand total of three MPs own Foster’s shares. But, then again, when do politicians put their money where their mouths are?

But the Prince enjoyed that
Barnaby Joyce
and
John Elliott
complained about the deal, even if he wasn’t sure that Barnaby’s credentials to talk about how to run a company were that great after his not-so-brilliant stint as shadow finance minister a few years back.